Bharath Rammr
Henrikh Mkhitaryan was forced to miss the EFL Cup final against Southampton during the weekend. Even though the Armenian international scored the only goal of the game in the midweek 1-0 win over St Etienne, as he was injured. However, it did not stop him from joining in the celebrations to mark Manchester United’s victory in the competition. At the start of the season, Manchester United clearly set out with the objective of winning the EFL Cup as their first major trophy of the season. Jose Mourinho saw this as a great opportunity to galvanise the squad under his regime.
As the Red Devils stepped onto the pitch at the new Wembley stadium, they looked motivated and concentrated. It was not long before that the team took a 2-0 advantage in the game. Zlatan Ibrahimovic opened the scoring after just 19 minutes, while Jesse Lingard appeared to make the game safe with a goal in the 38th minute. Just when it seemed that United would see the game through and lift the trophy for a fifth time in the club’s history, Southampton produced an incredible comeback in the space of three minutes.
Manolo Gabbiadini came up with a goal just before half-time to provide some confidence in the Southampton ranks. While this goal pulled one back for Southampton, they still needed to come up with an impressive performance in order to have any chance of winning the game. They came out determined in the second half and it did not take long for the south coast club to be on level terms once again. Interestingly, Gabbiadini came up with an equaliser just a few minutes into the second half. This goal seemed to rattle United, who had been extremely comfortable up until that point.
However, a Jose Mourinho masterstroke in terms of tactics resulted in Manchester United waking up from the mid-game slumber. Even though they had to work hard, the result finally was in no doubt when Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his second goal of the game with only three minutes of normal time remaining. If the game had gone into extra time and penalties, it would have been anyone’s game. As it is, United managed to avoid such tricky situations and secured the victory.
Even though Manchester United may miss out on the league title this season, the club would be more than happy with the League Cup victory coupled with a top four finish. Mkhitaryan had been on the verge of being sold in January, but an incredible run of form since November has seen the 27-year-old played a crucial role in United’s fortunes.
Mkhitaryan who was signed for £26.3m from Dortmund has scored six goals in 24 appearances for United this season.
